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The Great Northwest Basketball League

 

2020-2021 Season Information

Coaches -

With decisions on the start of school coming soon, we realize that some adaptations are necessary to the original enrollment information that we emailed and posted back in June.  Some school boards will not make decisions until mid-August on the start of school.  Although some teams have been able to lock in hosting dates, many host teams will need to wait until school starts to set dates with their schools.

We have decided to make the following changes to deadlines and the 2020-2021 season.

Deadline Changes:

  • Meet Hosting Forms:  Deadline will be September 5 (rather than August 7).  Hosting dates will be locked in as soon as we have received and confirmed the dates within the schedule. 

     Team Enrollment Form Revised deadlines:

  • 8th grade girls:  Revised deadline is September 9
  • 7th grade girls:  Revised deadline is September 9
  • 6th grade girls:  Revised deadline is September 16
  • 6th grade boys:  Revised deadline is September 16
  • 5th and 4th grade girls:  Revised deadline is September 23
  • 5th and 4th grade boys:  Revised deadline is September 30
  • 8th grade boys:  Revised deadline is October 7
  • 7th grade boys:  Revised deadline is October 10

Changes for the 2020-2021 Season:

RIBBONS.  We are considering not having ribbons for the 20-21 season since there is a chance that meets may need to be cancelled due to coronavirus stipulations as the year goes on.  If you have a strong opinion on having the ribbons for the upcoming season, please send us an email letting us know your concerns.  If certain teams feel strongly about having ribbons, those could be ordered on a case by case basis – the team ordering these ribbons would be charged at our discounted rate by the Great Northwest League. 

LOCAL REGULATIONS ON MASKS AND OTHER ISSUES.  Each host team will be required to inform visiting teams as well as the Great Northwest League of any local or school policies regarding players, parents and coaches wearing masks and crowd sizes, or any other relevant regulations when they make their pre-meet contacts, at least one week before the meet.  The League will post these requirements on the bottom of the schedule page once we have them.  These requirements are subject to change throughout the year and from area to area, so we will not post them for all meets from a school at the same time.  The League does not have any exact rules in place since we cover a large area.  We do recommend following safety guidelines for all players and fans which include wearing a mask when in public, washing hands/using hand sanitizer frequently and staying at home if you are not feeling well.  Fans in the stands and in common areas should try to socially distance as much as possible.

OPTIONAL MEET FORMATS.  Many schools may have restrictions on the number of people allowed into a venue at one time.  Therefore, we would consider changing the format of the meets – if needed – to one of these options:

  1. We would plan to keep as many meets as possible to the 3-game meet options that we have used in the past.  We are likely to have very few teams that want to play four games this season (other than at the LCT or WSICT) and will plan to use 3-game formats as much as possible, with no hybrid or 4-game formats. 

In these regular 3-game meets, there are two brackets of four teams each with teams playing at alternating times and a game off between each time that they play – Bracket 1 playing at 9:00, 11:20 and 1:40; and Bracket 2 playing at 10:10, 12:30 and 2:50.This format is still the best for hosting, teams will be able to rest between games and have time to get to the concession stand.

  1. Option for 4-team meets:  One option we will use if requested is to have Bracket 1 play their games in the morning and Bracket 2 in the afternoon.  This would mean fewer people in the facility at one time, however teams would have to play back to back to back games.  Using this option, we would add an additional 10 minutes between games so that teams could rest and get some food. 

Bracket 1 would play at 9:00, 10:20 and 11:40.

Bracket 2 would play at 1:00, 2:20 and 3:40.

  1. If absolutely necessary, we would implement a 3-team, 2-game meet format.  This would be done to minimize the number of people in the facility at one time.  Hosts should be aware that this format would cut into concession stand visits and will want to change their menu offerings accordingly.  However, this option may give more teams the ability to host while limiting the number of visitors to their school.  The cost to play in a 3-team, 2 game meet will be $90 and the hosting credit to the host team will be $45 for each team in attendance.

In this 3-team, 2-game option, the following schedule would be used:

Bracket 1

  1. Home team vs closest visiting team
  2. Closest visiting team v Farthest visiting team
  3. Home team vs Farthest visiting team

>20 minute transition time between Brackets<

Bracket 2

  1. 12:40 Home team vs Team 2
  2. 1:50 Team 2 vs Team 3
  3. 3:00 Home team v Team 3

Changes for 8th and 7th grade girls meets.

The majority of 8th and 7th grade girls meets are held in late October through the end of December - - this may be the most questionable time of the school year.  While some teams are ready to go, others will need to wait until school starts to make these decisions.  There may be a larger number of meets available for girls teams in January and February than there have been in the past to give teams more of an opportunity to play.

In the original paperwork that was emailed/posted on the website in June, we opted to use a "sign-up" or first-come, first-served plan for any meets that will be held on October 24 or October 31. 

With deadlines now pushed back to September 9, we will plan to schedule and confirm teams playing in any November meets as soon as we have those dates completed.  The schedule for the 8th and 7th graders will be posted in two parts with November meets posted as soon as we have them completed and December meets posted later. 

Meets that will be held on October 24 or October 31 will still be posted on the website so that teams can sign-up for them. 

In addition, if teams are not able to host when we set the original schedules but are able to secure hosting dates later in the year, we will post those dates as available to play as well. 

League Championship Tournaments. 

Like most other programs, host teams for the League Championship Tournaments are not able to lock in the use of their courts until school decisions have been made or until school starts.  Because of this, we are unable to post the dates of the LCTs.  If your program is hosting, we will work with you to alter host dates once we know when the LCTs will be held for each grade. 

One option that we have discussed but will not use unless we have no other choice, would be to limit the League Championship Tournaments for this season to the top 16 teams rather than the top 32.  Twenty years ago when the first LCTs were held, we used this format for the event.  If we were forced to use this option for one of more grades, we would notify the top teams of the decision as soon as we know it. 

Thank you for your patience as we navigate the 2020-2021 season.  We will plan to post and email any changes or new options to all teams as frequently as decisions are made.

 

 

 

If you have questions, please contact:

 

            Terri Green 715-386-4317 (terri@gnbl.org)

            Or

            Tracie Tilton 715-749-9048 (tracie@gnbl.org)